Philippine Airlinesball
Introduction Philippine Airlines is the flag carrier of the Philippines and is Asia's first airline operating under its own name. Before the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, Philippine Airlinesball used to be one of the world's leading airlines with routes from Manila to New York, Paris, Barcelona, Munich, Amsterdam, Cairo and many more. This changed during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis where Philippine Airlinesball was devastated and had to cut off his hub in Cebu. The airline was temporarily taken over by Cathay Pacificball. Today, Philippine Airlines is one of the worst national airlines with only a 4 star skytrax rating comparable with Cebu Pacific who also only got a 3 star rating. He cannot into alliance unlike his neighbours but has plans to join Oneworld or Skyteam in the near future. Fleet *Airbus a320-200 - 10 *Airbus a321-200 - 18 *Airbus a321neo - 0 (18 orders) *Airbus a321neo/LR -0 (6 orders) *Airbus a330-300 - 15 *Airbus a340-300 - 6 *Airbus a350-900 - 2 (4 orders) *Boeing 777-300ER- 8 (2 orders) *Boeing 747 AKA Queen of the Skies (Formerly, retired) History On February 26, 1941, Philippine Air Lines, Inc., was formally incorporated by a group of businessmen headed by Andrés Soriano, Sr.. The latter was, hailed as one of the Philippines' leading industrialists at the time and served as the future general manager. He, and former Senator Ramon Fernandez, who served as the future chairman and president, acquired the franchise of Philippine Aerial Taxi Company Incorporated, transforming it into the new Philippine Airlines. The airline’s first flight took place on March 15, 1941 with a single Beechcraft Model 18 NPC-54 on daily services between Manila (from Nielson Field) and Baguio. It carried two pilots and five passengers on its maiden flight. The five passengers were also the founders of PAL – Philippine Air Lines: Andres Soriano, Ramon Fenandez, Juan Elizalde, John R. Schultz and Ernesto Von Kaufmann. Government investment in September paved the way for its nationalization. On October 23, 1941, John R. Schultz was elected by the Board of Directors as Treasurer of Philippine Air Lines. Revenue Passenger-Kilometers, scheduled flights only, in millions Source: IATA World Air Transport Statistics PAL services were interrupted during World War II, which lasted in the Philippines from late 1941 to 1945. Upon the outbreak of the Pacific War on December 8, 1941 the two Model 18s and their pilots were pressed into military service. They were used to evacuate American fighter pilots to Australia until one was shot down over Mindanao and the other was destroyed on the ground in an air raid in Surabaya, Indonesia. On February 15, 1946, PAL resumed operations after a five-year hiatus with service to 15 domestic points with five Douglas DC-3s and a payroll of 108 names. Philippine Airlines returned to its original home, the Nielson Field in Makati. The airport, heavily damaged during the war, was refurbished and modernized by PAL at a cost of over one million pesos, quickly becoming the official port of entry for air passengers into the Philippines. The airport was operated by Manila International Air Terminal, Inc., a wholly owned PAL subsidiary. On July 31, 1946, PAL became the first Asian airline to cross the Pacific Ocean when a chartered Douglas DC-4 ferried 40 American servicemen to Oakland, California from Nielson Airport with stops in Guam, Wake Island, Johnston Atoll and Honolulu. A regular service between Manila and San Francisco started in December 1946. During this time, the airline was designated as the country’s flag carrier. PAL commenced service to Europe in 1947 with the acquisition of more Douglas DC-4s. By 1948, PAL had absorbed the only other scheduled airlines in the Philippines, Far Eastern Air Transport and Commercial Air Lines. Following the government's decision to convert Nichols Field in Pasay City, the site of a former U.S. Air Force base, into a new international airport for Manila, PAL was required to move its base of operations and passenger terminal there from Nielsen Airport. The transfer was accomplished over a five-month period from January 31 to June 28, 1948, with PAL investing an additional P600,000 in ground installations and improvements to Nichols Field. In 1951 PAL leased a DC-3 named "Kinsei" to Japan Airlines, which led to the founding of the country's own national airline. In March 1954, the Philippine government suspended all flights to Europe, Japan and the United States, only to resume five years later. In three years PAL started services to Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Taipei using Convair 340s that would later be replaced by the Vickers Viscount 784, which brought the airline into the turboprop age. Today On October 23, 2014, Philippine Airlines announced the appointment of Bautista as the new President and COO of Philippine Airlines. Under Bautista's rule, Philippine Airlines deferred some of its single aisle aircraft, ordered under the San Miguel management. The strategic move minimised the risk of an overcapacity with single aisle aircraft in the PAL fleet. Jaime Bautista also announced to replace its A340 fleet, with the choice of a new and modern Airbus A350 XWB or Boeing 787 Dreamliner. In addition to new aircraft, PAL has chosen to lease more 777's for its growing long haul flights. In January 2015, Philippine Airlines became the official carrier of Pope Francis throughout his apostolic trip in the Philippines. The aircraft boarded by the pontiff was named "Shepherd One". The airline flew the pope to the city of Tacloban and, as per traditional protocol, flew him back to Ciampino Airport in Rome, Italy from Manila. In March 2015, on the 74th anniversary of the carrier, Philippine Airlines resumed flights to New York City via the John F. Kennedy International Airport with a stopover in Vancouver from Manila. The airline previously flew to New York via the Newark Liberty International Airport, but canceled the route in 1997 following the Asian financial crisis. Philippine Airlines originally utilized the Airbus A340 for its flights, but in October 2015, PAL upgraded to the larger Boeing 777-300ER to increase seat capacity for flights to New York. In addition, Philippine Airlines expanded to the Oceania region by introducing flights to Auckland, New Zealand (via Cairns, Australia) and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. Philippine Airlines' global expansion and new routes also made the airline among nine out of the sixteen publicly traded Southeast Asian carriers to be profitable, having kept a $120 million profit. It was ranked the fourth profitable overall and second profitable full-service carrier in Southeast Asia, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. In June 2015, Philippine Airlines has renewed its partnership with Lufthansa Technik Philippines for a two-year base and heavy maintenance checks for its Airbus fleet. In 2016, Philippine Airlines announced the launching of flights between Manila and Doha, Manila and Kuwait City (via Dubai), and Cebu City to Los Angeles. Also, PAL acquired six Airbus A350-900 and will operate the aircraft on non-stop flights from and to the U.S. In April 2016, on Philippine Airlines' 75th anniversary, the airline introduced a new campaign called The Heart of the Filipino. The campaign was aggressively undertaken, with the launch of new advertisements which are endorsed by The Voice of the Philippines judges: singers Bamboo Mañalac, Lea Salonga, and Sarah Geronimo, as well as Miss Universe 2015 winner, Pia Wurtzbach. The airline adopted a new theme song, which incorporates the vocals of Mañalac, Salonga, and Geronimo. The lyrics famously includes the old PAL slogan "Shining Through," reminiscing on PAL's successful advertising campaign in the 1980s. On January 1, 2017, Philippine Airlines launched its first and only international destination from Clark, Pampanga to South Korea's capital Seoul as part of their plan to decongest Ninoy Aquino International Airport and PAL already operate flights from Clark, Pampanga to Cebu City and to Davao City. They want to make the Clark International Airport from Angeles, Pampanga as one of their secondary hubs after Mactan–Cebu International Airport. In February 2017, Philippine Airlines released a new pre-flight safety demonstration video in conjunction with The Heart of the Filipino campaign. The video featured various tourist destinations in the Philippines with locals from those destinations demonstrating the safety guidelines. Safety Philippine Airlinesball is one of the safest airlines in ASEAN Despite this, PAL is known for being the only airline in the Philippines to be accredited by the International Air Transport Association with passing the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), having been accredited in February 2007. Philippine Airlines also has a 6/7 safety rating according to AirlineRatings.com, which was rated safer than some of its South East Asian Counterparts: Malaysia Airlines (5/7), Garuda Indonesiaball (3/7), Thai Airways (4/7), Vietnam Airlines (5/7) Category:English Speaking Companyball Category:Filipino companyballs Category:Filipino Speaking Companyball Category:1930's Category:Aviation companyballs Category:Cannot into alliance Category:Cosmos Group Category:Cosmos Group founders Category:Asian companyballs